Adjustment of direct payments is invariable prerequisite for Latvia to support CAP reform after 2020

On Monday, December 17, at the Council of EU Ministers for Agriculture and Fishery in Brussels, where the discussions were ongoing on the reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), proposed by the European Commission (COM) for the next programming period after 2020, Jānis Dūklavs, the Minister for Agriculture, pointed out that the adjustment of direct payments is the invariable prerequisite for Latvia to support the proposal for the future CAP.

“There is an impartial statistics and calculations, justifying higher production costs in Latvia. The difference between the support rates for Member States in next programming period must not be based on production indicators true for 90s of the last century. Therefore, direct payments must be adjusted accordingly”, said Jānis Dūklavs, the Minister for Agriculture.

The Minister for Agriculture also emphasized once more that Latvia does not agree to reduction in funding for rural development, envisaged by COM after 2020 – the funding must be maintained at the current level. “For Latvia, the proposed 15% reduction in next period together with the current 8% reduction already amounts to 22% reduction in funding for rural development. For Latvia such reduction would be dramatic, moreover the situation is aggravated by the proposed reduction in co-financing rates from 85% to 70%,” pointed out Jānis Dūklavs at the discussions.

Latvia is invariably demanding fair direct payments after 2020 because only this will ensure equal support measures and respectively, equal competition conditions for farmers of all the Member States. Latvia is also against the reduction in funding for rural development – the funding must be maintained at least at the level of 2014 – 2020.